Chargers roar back to win 2 in 2 against Mumbai Indians

It was again one heck of a match involving Mumbai Indians and Chargers. I am becoming a big fan of these low scoring contests which are far more interesting than high scoring encounters. Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bat .The start was not good with Gibbs getting out for a duck again and Gilchrist realizing that he is the main man was not himself as he was just stroking singles and not going for big shots..Suman who came in whacked Harbhajan for 2 6’s in an over to bring some momentum back into the innings but he played one shot too many and was caught by Pinal shah of bravo’s first over. Rohit Sharma came in and was slow at the start but just when it looked that Gilchrist was gearing up for big shots he got out 2 balls before the strategic timeout. Venugopal Roa came in and the innings was going no where..Rohit Sharma got out trying to go for a big shot of Malinga. Venugopal came good in the end and in the end Chargers could only manage 145 in their allotted 20.

145 was never going to be enough on this track but with Mumbai Indians having lost to the chargers in their last encounter chasing a similar target it was going to be a nice contest between bat and ball and it turned out to be just that. The two Dangerman Jayasurya(5) and Sachin(1) got out in the second over of RP giving him the purple cap yet again. Jayasurya was brilliantly caught by Ryan Harris and Sachin inside edged onto his stumps the very next ball. Pinal shah came in and played innovative shots from the beginning but he too perished playing one shot too many when he was caught by smith of the young Suman who bowled exceptionally well. It was looking comfortable for Mumbai with 97/2 on the board in 14 overs. What happened next was totally unexpected. Bravo got out trying to hit one out of the park and it was again Suman who provided the breakthrough. Then it was just a procession of batsmen coming and going. I have been critical of Gilly’s captaincy in the last few matches but what a bowling change. He brought on sharma and boy he struck twice of consecutive balls removing Nayar and Harbhajan and was on a hatrick but he finished his over. Duminy got to a 50 yet again.It was the beginning of the 17th over and Sharma was on hatrick and boy what a moment that was..Duminy edged one down the leg side and what a good catch by Gilly to give sharma his maiden hattrick. From 97/2 in 14 overs they slumped to 109/8 in 17.3 overs. Everything was happening so quickly that it was hard to see who was coming and who was going but yet again Chargers showed that they are better than Mumbai Indians despite not having posted a big total. ClickHere for the scorecard

Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma (4 wickets for 6 runs in 2 overs and crucial 38 runs of 36 balls in a low scoring contest)